if you look at the policy of president clinton, president bush, president obama, the same basic line is evident in all of those administrations. on the point about energy, you make a good point. in fact, that is already happening. ther 15 years ago, when united states thought it would have to import huge amounts of natural gas, the plan was to import lng coming out of the persian gulf. with the discovery of natural resources in the united states, they have nowhere to go, and instead they're going to europe, and they have displaced some. this is a tricky question for the russians because in 2006 and 2009, they had gas cutoffs to europe, and then made the europeans nervous about reliable suppliers. if this crisis in the ukraine were to do that a third time, they could see long-time customers in europe bringing in lng from the golf because of concerns. it might not bode well for their interests. host: steven pifer currently serves of the brookings institution. what do you do there? i, -- i am on the center for esa tenure. serve?ow long did you guest: 27 years, serving in moscow, london,